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Monday, August 06, 2018

Parents, Are You Addicted to Gadgets? Be Warned of its Effect on Your Children

In this time and age of internet and social media, it is almost hard to imagine not seeing anyone with their eyes not glued to that tiny, illuminating screen; kids and adults alike.

Being a parent, it becomes second nature to us to be more attentive, if not cautious, on how much should we allow our children to use their gadgets for their own well-being.

At this time and age of internet and social media, it is almost hard to imagine not seeing anyone with their eyes not glued to that tiny, illuminating screen, kids and adults alike. Being a parent, it becomes second nature to us to be more attentive, if not cautious, on how much should we allow children use their gadgets for their own well-being. But that leaves us the question: How about your own gadget habit? Are they any better than your kids? Here’s the not-so-good news parents ought to hear: Your screen time has more impact on your children than you may think, or care to accept. According to Wonderneed, a recent study from University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital revealed that the amount of a parent’s screen time has negative effect on their children’s mental health and development. That is, the time the parents spent on their gadgets, TVs’ included, effectively stole away what should be a meaningful interaction with their kids. Accordingly, whenever the time a child spent with their parents is interrupted by technology, the child will most likely feel unimportant and frustrated. And in order for them to get back the attention they want, children will often act out and misbehave. Researchers also found out that besides the negative effect on the parent-child relationship, extreme gadget habits would cause other health effects such as vision and eye health issues, mental health and depression, cardiovascular health and increased risk of diabetes, neck, back, and other musculo-skeletal problems due to poor posture, brain development and learning problems, attention deficit problems and sleep problems, among others. How to combat these negative impact on family relationship? Here are some advice: - Set a limit of screen time for everyone, no exemptions. As parents, set a good example - Phones on the table during dinner time is a big no no. Instead talk about how each other’s day went along - Avoid movie time as a form of family bonding. No one wants to speak or spoken to while watching films, anyway. Pick more healthy activities, indoor or outdoor - When you decided to go out, leave your phones at home as much as possible. If unavoidable, bring a feature phone instead for emergency purposes and use it only as intended – for emergency - Whenever checking messages on phones becomes irresistible, put on airplane mode, and decide that you don’t want to be disturbed while with your kids

But that leaves us the question: How about your own gadget habit? Are you any better than your kids?

Here’s the not-so-good news parents ought to hear: Your screen time has more impact on your children than you may think, or care to accept.

According to Wonderneed, a recent study from University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital revealed that the amount of a parent’s screen time has negative effect on their children’s mental health and development.

In this time and age of internet and social media, it is almost hard to imagine not seeing anyone with their eyes not glued to that tiny, illuminating screen, kids and adults alike. Being a parent, it becomes second nature to us to be more attentive, if not cautious, on how much should we allow children use their gadgets for their own well-being. But that leaves us the question: How about your own gadget habit? Are they any better than your kids? Here’s the not-so-good news parents ought to hear: Your screen time has more impact on your children than you may think, or care to accept. According to Wonderneed, a recent study from University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital revealed that the amount of a parent’s screen time has negative effect on their children’s mental health and development. That is, the time the parents spent on their gadgets, TVs’ included, effectively stole away what should be a meaningful interaction with their kids. Accordingly, whenever the time a child spent with their parents is interrupted by technology, the child will most likely feel unimportant and frustrated. And in order for them to get back the attention they want, children will often act out and misbehave. Researchers also found out that besides the negative effect on the parent-child relationship, extreme gadget habits would cause other health effects such as vision and eye health issues, mental health and depression, cardiovascular health and increased risk of diabetes, neck, back, and other musculo-skeletal problems due to poor posture, brain development and learning problems, attention deficit problems and sleep problems, among others. How to combat these negative impact on family relationship? Here are some advice: - Set a limit of screen time for everyone, no exemptions. As parents, set a good example - Phones on the table during dinner time is a big no no. Instead talk about how each other’s day went along - Avoid movie time as a form of family bonding. No one wants to speak or spoken to while watching films, anyway. Pick more healthy activities, indoor or outdoor - When you decided to go out, leave your phones at home as much as possible. If unavoidable, bring a feature phone instead for emergency purposes and use it only as intended – for emergency - Whenever checking messages on phones becomes irresistible, put on airplane mode, and decide that you don’t want to be disturbed while with your kids

That is, the time that parents spend on their gadgets, TVs included, effectively steal away what should be a meaningful interaction with their kids.

Accordingly, whenever the time a child spends with their parents is interrupted by technology, the child will most likely feel unimportant and frustrated.

And in order for them to get back the attention they want, children will often act out and misbehave.

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Researchers also found out that besides the negative effect on the parent-child relationship, extreme gadget habits would cause other health effects such as vision and eye health issues, mental health and depression, cardiovascular health and increased risk of diabetes, neck, back, and other musculo-skeletal problems due to poor posture, brain development and learning problems, attention deficit problems and sleep problems, among others.

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How to combat these negative impacts on family relationship? Here are some advice:

Set a limit of screen time for everyone, no exemptions. As parents, set a good example
Phones on the table during dinner time is a big no no. Instead talk about how each other’s day went along
Avoid movie time as a form of family bonding. No one wants to speak or spoken to while watching films, anyway. Pick more healthy activities; indoor or outdoor
When you decide to go out, leave your phones at home as much as possible. If unavoidable, bring a feature phone instead for emergency purposes and use it only as intended – for emergency
Whenever checking messages on phones becomes irresistible, put it on airplane mode, and decide firmly that you don’t want to be disturbed while with your kids.